Eric Holder faces Hill skeptics on surveillance, leak probes

Graham also argued that lawmakers shouldn’t claim to be in the dark about the program, since they had passed laws authorizing it. And he said ending the surveillance would be “catastrophic.”

“I may come out differently than my colleagues on this,” he said. “This was created by the Congress… So, you keep up what you’re doing, and if you’ve gone outside the lane, you fix it. President Bush started it. President Obama’s continuing it. We need it, from my point of view.”

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At the outset of the hearing, Shelby came close to calling on Holder to resign, alluding to the flaps over how leak probes had intruded on the work of journalists at the Associated Press and Fox News.

“These issues have overwhelmed the department and cast a shadow of doubt upon the attorney general,” Shelby said, suggesting Holder had reached a “tipping point” where staying on in the job was counterproductive.

“The controversy that has embroiled the department has called into question its ability, I believe, to fairly administer law and justice. Further, the questionable actions of the attorney general, I believe, have tarnished the integrity, impartiality and efficacy of the position of the attorney general,” the senator added. “Unfortunately, I believe, and until these issues are resolved and the controversy surrounding the Justice Department and the attorney general’s office is laid to rest, a hue of distrust will hover over the Department of Justice.”

Holder said he had no plans to leave anytime soon, but suggested he likely would not serve through the end of Obama’s second term and acknowledged that his agency might benefit from some “new perspective.”

“The tipping point might be fatigue. You get to a point where you just get tired,” Holder said. “There are certain goals that I set for myself and for this department when I started back in 2009. When I get to a point where I think that I have accomplished all the goals that I set, I will sit down with the president and we’ll talk about a transition to a new attorney general…..When the time comes for me to step aside for my successor, I will do so.”

Holder said he was “proud” of his work at the Justice Department, but that there was certainly room for improvement.

“I go through a self-evaluation process almost on a daily basis. I have not done a perfect job. I think I’ve done a good job. But I’m always trying to do better,” the attorney general said.